Jake Gyllenhaal Fears Ostriches

In his new movie, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Jake Gyllenhaal is a fearless hero, Prince Dastan. The actor bulked up and mastered sword fighting.

And of all the things Gyllenhaal mastered, his fear of ostriches was not one of them, reports People.com.

“They would say, ‘Don’t make any noise around the ostriches. They’ll tear out your eyes and rip out your heart.’ So, I was naturally terrified,” Gyllenhaal said. “They look like they’re innocent, but they’re really not.”

Gemma Arterton, Gyllenhaal’s co-star, can confirm the actor’s fear of the flightless bird.

Arterton also seems to have had better luck on set with animals, than Gyllenhaal.

“I did a horse-riding stunt, which took me two weeks to rehearse,” Arterton said. “I had to jump onto a horse while it was galloping towards me. It was pretty scary, and I’m proud of myself for doing it, and I made sure that I looked over my shoulder so that everyone knew it was me and not a stunt double.”